If it won’t matter in 5 years, don’t spend more than 5 minutes worrying about it.
Gene Caballero was a corporate sales manager for Dell Computers when he founded GreenPal. If you haven’t heard of it yet, think Uber for lawn care. In most cases, working in a startup is like getting punched in the face every day and working at a corporate job is like getting waterboarded. Gene is glad his situation was not that dramatic. “We launched GreenPal just to see if anyone would use this type of service before actually really putting real money into the website.
Burning the Midnight Oil
For two years Gene’s little hobby started gaining steam and he realized the potential that it had. Having to leave a very well paid corporate job was very difficult and doing both really consumed his time. Gene’s corporate life started at 7am-4pm, Mon-Fri. Side hustle started at 430pm-9pm, Mon-Fri, Saturday, 8am-6pm, and Sunday, 10am-4pm. After 5 years of doing both, Gene took a leap of faith and quit his job and went full time with GreenPal. “My grandfather who barely spoke English told me this…There are 3 8-hour workdays in 24 hours…pick which two you want to work and you will be successful”.
Bumps Along The Way
Gene’s new-found freedom allows him to focus on activities that he has always wanted to do. He recently started taking piano lessons and will shortly begin attempting to acquire a Private Pilots License. The lawn care business hasn’t always been smooth mowing. GreenPal almost didn’t make it to launch. Some bad legal advice cost him $12K and almost a lot more. “If you plan to take your company public, make sure you form the correct corporation. We were told that we didn’t need to set up a C-Corp in Delaware even though they have the most tax-favorable state for this. Even though we are far from going public, its good to know that most investors will only invest in c-corps structured this way”.
Spending $85K on website development didn’t help either. It was based on what they thought customers wanted and it just didn’t work. They have since scrapped it and started over, doing everything in house. The only thing that was kept was the video “….$85k for a 1:30-sec video….and no it was not directed by James Cameron”.
Getting on Track
One of the books that helped Gene get GreenPal headed in the right direction was The Startup Owner’s Manual, by Steve Blank. “For me, Steve laid out all of the pre-work that was needed to be done before a company should even be started. From “getting out of the building” and getting feedback from random strangers to being on top of your company and not in it, Steve takes real-world examples and explains everything in detail. He gave me the confidence and the reasoning to get the ball rolling on becoming an entrepreneur”.
One of the biggest lessons that Gene has learned is to think big. Many entrepreneurs simply don’t think big enough. Incremental changes rarely result in a successful company. “If your company’s solution to a problem is not 10x better than the traditional product or service, it will be difficult to have product-market fit and scale. Talk to strangers, family, friends, co-workers and see if they would PAY for your product or service….not just see if they like it”.
If your lawn is in need of attention, check out Gene Caballero at GreenPal.
https://www.yourgreenpal.com
